Last spring, the Washington Post uncovered a disconcerting plan for Trump’s second administration. Now it is being promoted as something normal to Americans. However, it clearly spells out a path backward—to a time Americans have never known.
The Washington Post discovered plans being developed for Trump’s second term. Project 2025 is being crafted by right-wing think tanks around Washington DC. It includes Executive Orders to be issued upon his return to power. One would call out the military to put down the type of protest Trump witnessed at his first inauguration. The plan also calls for Trump to select advisors loyal to him, and to fire civil servants deemed insufficiently loyal. It would also weaken the civil service to allow him to do so. Moreover, it calls for using the Justice Department to persecute turncoats such as John Kelley, William Barr, and General Mark Milley. (Trump has been open about his desire for payback and retribution. His supporters even seem to enjoy it.) While current US law prevents federal prosecutions for political purposes, those laws work based on precedence and custom. By dispensing with precedence and custom, the door is opened for using the Department as a political weapon. The Economist assessed that a Trump victory in 2024 “would confirm his most destructive instinct about power.”
Last week, we saw how Poland unshackled itself from an authoritarian government after eight years. Government institutions were corrupted to the point of ruin. The rule-of-law was so undermined it will take years to rewrite bad laws. In the 1960s, Syria regressed from a democracy to a one-party system to a one-person dictatorship to a fiefdom. There is no reason to believe that America is immune from such a path. While our checks & balances may be stronger than Syria’s were, we could still be in danger from a malevolent president and indifferent citizenry.
Experts debate whether Trump’s agenda would be successful. Some say that politically ordered prosecutions violate the 14th Amendment and would cause judges to dismiss the cases. However, if Trump packed the federal court the way he did in his first term, it is unclear how strong checks on his power would be. It is possible that a Trump second term could start America down a regression from which it would never recover.
Source:
Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, Delin Barrett, “Trump and Allies Plot Revenge, Justices Department Control in a Second Term,” Washington Post, 11/6/2023, accessed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/05/trump-revenge-second-term/
Dan Balz, “Voters, Take Trump Seriously and Literally. The Stakes are High,” Washington Post, 19 November 2023, A2.
Photo: Charlie Neibergall (AP)